NAB says it will stick with RBA rate hike

NAB says it has no plans to raise its standard variable interest rate higher than any move by the central bank.

NAB says it has attracted new customers with plans to keep rate rises in line with RBA moves / File

NAB says it has has no plans to raise its standard variable interest rate higher than any move the central bank makes to the official cash rate this month.

The Reserve Bank is expected to meet tomorrow to discuss whether or not to lift official interest rates beyond the current 4 per cent.

NAB has reassured customers it won't move rates higher than the Reserve Bank and says its strategy of matching the central bank has led to a surge in its mortgage volumes.

Personal banking group executive Lisa Gray says the bank has seen an increase in customers in recent months.

"This has been across a range of products, but particularly personal transaction accounts and home loans," Ms Gray said.

Data from financial comparison website RateCity late last month found that interest rates on more than 200 standard variable rate (SVR) home loans had risen by an average of 1.22 percentage points since July 2009, eclipsing the Reserve Bank's four rate hikes that totalled one percentage point.

The big four banks moved in lockstep with the Reserve Bank's 0.25 per cent interest rate rise on March 2, after three of them - the exception being NAB - faced a public backlash for going higher than the Reserve Bank's rate hike in December.

In December, Westpac raised its standard variable rate by 45 basis points, 20 basis points more than the Reserve Bank's hike.

CBA increased its standard variable rate in December by 37 basis points and ANZ by 35 basis points.

NAB's Mortgage application volumes in February were four times greater than a year earlier, the bank said.

Last week, the Australian Prudential and Regulatory Authority (APRA) and the Reserve Bank both confirmed that for the first time in five years NAB outperformed the financial system in home lending growth during February.